BACKGROUND: Collagen sponge is considered the most useful biomaterial owing to its excellent function and properties, easy processing, sterilization, and preservation and has been widely used in scientific research and clinical application. OBJECTIVE: To describe the properties of collagen sponge and to review the research progress of collagen sponge in clinical application in recent years. METHODS: A computer-based retrieval was performed by the first author to search for manuscripts published from January 2000 to August 2010 in Pubmeds and Elsevier databases and for manuscripts published from January 1993 to August 2010 in CNKI database using key words "collagen, collagen sponge, clinical application" in title and abstract items in English and Chinese language, respectively. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Collagen sponge, as a new biological material, has been widely applied in tissue engineering research in terms of hemostasis, wound healing, anti-infection, cartilage repair, and nerve repair. But at present, nearly all collagen is from animals and immunogenicity cannot be thoroughly eliminated. Researchers outside of China have synthesized recombinant human collagen using bioreactor and transgenic technology, but its efficacy and safety in clinical application needs further investigation and research.